VPNs have become increasingly popular in recent years, and this growth isn’t just down to people realizing how important their IP-masking and data-encrypting abilities are for digital privacy, but also because VPN apps have become far more consumer-friendly over time.
Most of them are now extremely easy to use – from downloading to installation to everyday use – and feel more or less just like any other app you’d have on your PC or phone.
However, given that a VPN’s primary use case is strengthening your digital privacy and security – and all the best VPNs are paid services – it’s worth pausing and contemplating what actually happens to your money when you sign up for one.
What you’re paying for when you buy a VPN
Today’s best and most reliable VPNs utilize the funds they receive from user subscriptions to provide and improve on their services. This includes the following core aspects:
Maintaining and upgrading servers
VPN companies have to rent physical space in data centers all over the world. According to ITASAP, a VPN server can cost up to $20,000 a month, and since good VPNs have servers in lots of locations, the overall cost scales rapidly.
The benefit for users, however, is access to thousands of VPN server locations, allowing them to always find a speedy server nearby, no matter where they are.
Engineering
This involves taking care of the VPN’s existing infrastructure. Setting up a VPN server is not a one-time expense, as VPN companies have to continuously monitor and maintain these large networks, ensuring that servers don’t crash and that there are no DNS or kill switch leaks.
There’s also a performance-tuning and bug-fixing aspect, such as minimizing latency, congestion, and packet loss.
Development
In addition to maintaining core VPN features such as the kill switch, IP masking, and data encryption, VPNs also compete with each other in terms of the extra features and protections they offer to make themselves more appealing to potential buyers.
For example, dedicated IPs, built-in ad or tracker blockers, split tunneling, and double VPN are all features that top companies invest in to ensure they’re not just offering a bare-bones service, but something closer to a full online security solution.
Some VPNs, like ExpressVPN (Lightway) and NordVPN (NordLynx), also invest in proprietary VPN protocols, rather than relying solely on industry standards such as OpenVPN, WireGuard, or IKEv2/IPSec.
Bag a bargain
A solid, reliable VPN doesn’t have to cost an arm and a leg. Check out our shortlist of the best cheap VPNs on the market.
Cybersecurity research
This includes, among many things, paying for external audits, under which VPN companies invite reputable cybersecurity firms to inspect their privacy policies and security infrastructure.
VPN companies also have to invest in complying with GDPR, EU, or US privacy laws, and in bug bounty programs, which are critical for identifying and patching vulnerabilities.
A considerable amount of resources also goes into VPN jurisdiction research and legal counsel. Since VPN and data protection laws around the world are constantly changing, VPN companies have to stay on their toes to ensure they’re never operating in legal gray areas while also avoiding jurisdictions that may become privacy-unfriendly or require intrusive data compliance measures.
Customer support
Despite how easy it is to set up and use a VPN, there are still instances where you may need expert help. That’s why all high-quality VPNs offer fast, often 24/7 customer support through live chat, email, or both – with real human agents.
This requires considerable investment, as support staff not only need to be knowledgeable, but also hired, trained, and managed, just like in any typical corporation.
Advertising and outreach
This involves investing in sponsorships, affiliate commissions, online ads, and detailed blogs (including SEO and content writers). VPNs also partner with influencers and podcasts and run branding and PR campaigns across various platforms to increase visibility and reach new customers.
This is actually one of the core expense areas for many VPN providers, and understandably so, given how competitive the market has become due to the rising popularity of VPNs.
How should I pay for a VPN?
All the top VPNs typically offer a handful of options when it comes to paying for their services, but not all of them are equally secure. Below, we’ll give you a rundown of the most popular payment methods for buying a VPN and their respective privacy implications.
PayPal
PayPal is one of the most widely used payment methods for online products and services, and given that most users already have a PayPal account, paying for a VPN is typically just a minute-long process, as PayPal checkouts are super quick. PayPal also handles automatic renewals in a hands-off manner.
However, the catch here is that your purchases via PayPal will be tied to your PayPal account, which contains identifiable personal information such as your name, email address, and sometimes even your billing address.
It’s worth noting that the VPN company might not have your entire PayPal data, but PayPal will – and that could be something privacy-focused users may not be comfortable with.
Debit/credit card
This is another easy-to-use option, and perhaps the simplest of all, given that almost every VPN provider accepts a wide range of debit and credit card brands. You also won’t have to deal with the more complex setup involved with cryptocurrency payments or rely on third-party services like PayPal – just enter your card details and hit confirm.
However, when you pay with a debit or credit card, your payment goes through one or more intermediaries, and so does your information. This can create a sizable paper trail that your bank and the payment processor (such as Visa or MasterCard) can follow.
Cryptocurrency
Paying for a VPN anonymously via cryptocurrency keeps your transactions private, hidden from your bank and other intermediaries. Plus, the VPN company doesn’t ask you to provide any personal financial information, meaning your VPN account can’t be easily traced back to you.
While not everyone might have Bitcoin, Ethereum, or USDT to spend, or have a crypto wallet set up and ready to go, this is a good option for journalists, activists, and ethical hackers in restriction- or surveillance-heavy locations. However, paying via crypto will make getting a VPN refund virtually impossible.
Cash
While only a few VPN providers, like Proton VPN and Mullvad, offer the option to pay via cash, this is one of the best anonymous payment methods, as it eliminates the need for any digital trail, credit card number, or linked account whatsoever.
VPN companies handle cash payments in different ways. Some give you a unique code that you need to mail along with your cash payment to the provider. In other cases, the VPN may offer a physical product, such as a disk or a pre-configured USB device that contains the VPN software. Of course, the downside is slower processing times and, in the case of mailing cash payments, the risk of your money being stolen.
Should I use a free VPN?
Free VPNs might sound tempting – nothing’s better than free, right? – but under the hood, they’re usually a privacy nightmare.
Many free VPNs act like spyware, secretly collecting sensitive information such as your original IP address, real location, ISP, or device ID. Worse, they can even infect your device with malware. That’s because dodgy or fake free VPNs – usually those that only offer a free plan – have no subscription revenue to fund core VPN offerings. Their entire motive is to get users to sign up so they can snoop on them and sell their data to advertisers or data brokers for a profit. It’s how they survive.
In a nutshell, your best-case scenario with a free VPN is finding one that doesn’t log your data and isn’t a privacy risk. Reliable free VPNs are few and far between, and your best bet for finding a free VPN that you can trust (and have peace of mind that it won’t log or sell your data) is to choose one from an otherwise paid VPN provider.
Why? Because premium VPNs invest in stuff like encryption, privacy and security audits, server infrastructure, and customer support – all benefits that usually trickle down to free users as well.
Best of the free
There are only a handful of free VPNs that we actually recommend using — head on over to our round-up of today’s best free VPNs to see which providers don’t swap your security for their service.
Also consider the intent behind offering freebies. Providers like Proton VPN or PrivadoVPN have their paid plans as their primary revenue source; the free plan is simply a way for them to offer new users a taste of the service, hoping to impress them enough to upgrade to the paid plan.
This is also why even the best free VPNs come with restrictions, such as monthly data caps (although Proton VPN is a rarity in that regard), fewer servers (often just a dozen instead of thousands), and a lack of important features (for example, Proton VPN doesn’t offer Secure Core on its free plan), as well as reduced speeds and little to no streaming capabilities.
This underscores yet another important point: a legitimate free VPN might be enough for light day-to-day use, but it won’t support high-bandwidth activities like streaming, gaming, or torrenting.
None of this is to say that you have to spend a lot of money to get a VPN. Good cheap VPNs can cost as little as $2 a month and still come with a fully-fledged feature set, including obfuscation, double encryption, and built-in malware and ad blockers.
We test and review VPN services in the context of legal recreational uses. For example: 1. Accessing a service from another country (subject to the terms and conditions of that service). 2. Protecting your online security and strengthening your online privacy when abroad. We do not support or condone the illegal or malicious use of VPN services. Consuming pirated content that is paid-for is neither endorsed nor approved by Future Publishing.
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